Thursday, December 17, 2015

The late, great Senator Hunter Andrews used to say, “The
Governor proposes, but the General Assembly disposes.” And today the first step of that two-step
dance took place at the General Assembly Building before the joint money
committees.

Virginia Department of Budget and Planning Director Dan
Timberlake offered the following synopsis of the increased investment in our
public schools:

Public Education – Invests an additional $864 million from
the general fund over the biennium. Highlights include:

$429.8 million to rebenchmark the Standards of Quality
(SOQ).

$139.1 million for 2,500 additional teachers.

$83.2 million for a two percent salary increase for all
state-supported SOQ positions.

$55.1 million to increase VRS retirement rates to 100
percent of the actuarially required rates in FY 2018.

$49.7 million to increase the at-risk add-on program aiding
school divisions with high concentrations of at-risk students.

$40.6 million to restore the Cost of Competing adjustment
for support positions in FY 2018.

$30.0 million to reduce the transfer of Literary Fund for
teacher retirement.

$5.6 million for a new funding formula for Academic-Year
Governor’s Schools.

$5.0 million to increase funding for career and technical
education credentialing and equipment.

Other funding: increases support for the school breakfast
program, provides for automating more Standards of Learning tests, increases
the availability of online education, and establishes pilots to encourage
public-private service delivery of services to high risk children and
communities participating in the Virginia Preschool Initiative. 20

This is a major infusion of needed funding for our
schools. Public education receives 57%
of the new funding! The following items
on VEA’s legislative agenda are addressed in this budget:

Salary

This is the biggest disappointment in this budget. The state share of a 2% increase is provided
for the second year of the biennium. No
state support for an increase in the first year is provided. This just does not align with the need for
the state to attract and retain teachers at a time when many of our teachers
are reaching retirement age. Virginia’s
average teacher salary is $6,800 below the national average, and our salary is
judged to be the least competitive in the nation when our teachers are compared
to “other professionals in the same labor market who are of similar age, degree
level, and hours worked” (http://www.schoolfundingfairness.org/National_Report_Card_2015.pdf pp. 28-29).
We have the least competitive teacher salary in the nation.

VEA will continue to work with General Assembly members to
provide a salary increase in each year of the next biennium.

Support for challenged
schools

A major flaw in Virginia’s funding formula is the failure to
address the higher cost of meeting the educational needs of children living in
poverty. The additional $49.7 million
will provide needed support for the education of poor students.

Restoring School
Funding

The infusion of funds provided in the budget take us above
the pre-recessionary per-pupil funding level if inflation is not considered;
however, when inflation is factored in we still fall far short. It is worth noting that when funding was cut
in reaction to the Great Recession, the SOQ funding formula was permanently
changed to reduce required state spending.
This budget restores funding by providing categorical/discretionary
funding.

VRS Funding

The McAulliffe budget exceeds our expectations in regard to
VRS funding, moving to 100% funding of the VRS Board Certified Rate one year
sooner that the target previously agreed to by the General Assembly.

Education vs.
Incarceration

The Governor and VEA are clearly
on the same page on this issue. Today,
McAuliffe said, “Our juvenile
justice system is supposed to help young men and women get on the right path,
but research shows that the longer young people spend in our juvenile
correctional centers, the more likely they are to commit another crime. Our
system is built for failure.

We must have a 21st century solution that gives our
young people the support they need to turn their lives around.

We’ve already reduced the population in our juvenile correctional
centers from 600 to 350.

The next step is to reinvest savings from reduced incarcerations to
build smaller, secure, state-of-the-art centers and community-based treatment
alternatives.”

Medicaid Expansion

The VEA supports closing the health insurance coverage gap to free up
funds for public education, and this is exactly what McAuliffe’s budget
does. The resulting savings in this
biennial budget are $157 million.

This is a very preliminary overview of the budget in relation to the VEA
Legislative Agenda. We will be providing
much more information in the days and weeks ahead.